“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20
The sign read, “Million dollar sunset”. We were on our way to a beach vacation destination having spent the first couple days a few miles inland enjoying some of the small town sites. Today’s agenda was the beach. Along the highway to the state park was a billboard bragging the high dollar experience. "Million dollar sunset for the cost of a $6 parking slip,” I thought to myself, "I’m in!" I’m a sucker for a good sunset. I feel like up to that point I'd experienced a few sunsets that were worth a thousand dollars...give or take...a thousand dollars. I turned to the kids and said, “This is going to be awesome! We’ll spend the day at the beach and then stick around for the million dollar sunset.” The weather was perfect. A few clouds…as the sun dropped more people started showing up. These new arrivals were slightly older than the ones that had been scattered throughout the sand and water during the day. They arrived wearing sweatshirts instead of bathing suits…carrying lawn chairs rather than beach towels. We waited. The sun touched the water. “Any minute the sky is going to explode with color!”, I said with the confidence and excitement of a tour guide who’d seen it several times before. I hadn’t. But billboards don’t lie. We waited. The water swallowed the sun. “Any minute,” I said with waning hope in my voice. When people started to leave we realized that was it. “That sucked,” I think I heard one of my kids say. “Well, if that was worth a million dollars, our backyard must be worth a billion dollars,” I heard another say. I’m rich…I thought. “I guess we learned something tonight. Knox County, Illinois is pretty awesome,” I said. Life is like that. Sometimes. We wait... The promise of a promotion that never panned out. A "prophetic" word that brought false hope. Daydreaming about what it looks like to thrive while doing all you can to survive. A healing that hasn’t happened. A “For Sale” sign sits in the front yard for four hundred days. ...and the sun sets without the realization of what was hoped for or promised. Hope... deferred. It makes the heart sick... (Prov 13:12) Before we know it the crowd is gone and we’re the only ones on the beach. Hoodie pulled up, staring into what's left of the day, feeling like a fool because we waited for something that didn't meet our expectations or worse…didn’t come at all. The billboard lied. The truth is if you live long enough you will glance at the rear view mirror and discover a few detours like this on your journey. In his book Keeping Hope Alive, the late Christian author and professor Lewis Smedes writes: Waiting is our destiny as creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for. We wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light, we wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write. We wait for a not yet that feels like a not ever. Waiting is the hardest work of hope. “Waiting… is the hardest work… of hope.” I’m not sure I have it all figured out but until I do I’ll... Keep waiting. Keep hoping. Besides, if God just gave us what we asked for, He wouldn’t be doing more than we can imagine. Have you ever experienced a season like this? What helps you keep your head up and your eye’s on the horizon?
2 Comments
Laura
10/5/2019 06:47:33 am
Enjoy reading these works
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